Northview Hotel Group, based in Westport, Conn., has announced the purchase of the Queen and Crescent Hotel, a 196-key asset located just outside the French Quarter in the CBD. Northview acquired the REO hotel directly from the servicer, in partnership with a fund managed by Apollo Global Management L.L.C. It represents the second venture by the two entities in six months.

Currently, the Camp Street hotel comprises 196 guest rooms, outfitted with European furnishings, original artwork and in-room safes. Hotel amenities include 2,600 square feet of meeting/banquet space, a bar/lounge and a 24-hour fitness center. This could, however, change substantially, as Northview announced plans “to execute a transformative renovation and strategic repositioning plan,” Northview partner Simon Hallgarten said in a news release. Hallgarten added that “the purchase of the Queen and Crescent represented a unique opportunity to acquire an underperforming hotel located in the heart of one of the most vibrant lodging markets in the U.S.” Expected to kick off this year and continue in 2014, the renovation will reposition the underperforming asset by the time it reopens in fall 2014. The hotel group’s management arm, NVHG Management, will operate the hotel and oversee the renovation process. Neither the renovation budget nor the acquisition price has been disclosed.

The Queen and Crescent marks Northview’s fourth acquisition in the past 18 months, with all of them including post-purchase renovation and repositioning work.

The Queen and Crescent Building, as it was known upon its 1913 opening, initially served as the headquarters of the Queen and Crescent Railroad, the company operating the rail line that connected New Orleans and Cincinnati. The Renaissance Revival-style building, designed by architect Frank Gravely, was purchased by a group of local investors, and following a $12 million adaptive reuse renovation, opened in 1996 as the Queen and Crescent Hotel.